Quebec's Hypertec announces $5-billion program to build European data centres

Globe and Mail

21 hours ago

Quebec technology company Hypertec Inc. has announced a $5-billion program to build a series of data centres across Europe capable of powering two gigawatts of AI computing capacity.
Hypertec is partnering on the project with Montreal-based 5C Group, which it largely owns, and Together AI of San Francisco. The group expects to roll out the projects over the next three years with Britain, France, Italy and Portugal as the priority markets.
'We're in one of the largest revolutions today, possibly an unprecedented revolution with artificial intelligence,' said Hypertec chief executive officer Simon Ahdoot, who announced the expansion on Thursday at the VivaTech trade show in Paris. He added that 'when we see all those challenges brought together into one, we're seeing this unbelievable growth and an opportunity to help transform at the level of infrastructure, not just the IT industry, but all industries.'
Mr. Ahdoot said the $5-billion figure represents the cost of building two gigawatts of total capacity, which will be able to support up to 100,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), considered the backbone of AI processing. The money will come from a range of private investors as the projects progress, he added.
It's not clear yet how many individual data centres will be built but it could be dozens. Mr. Ahdoot said Bell Canada's data centre in Montreal has capacity for around five megawatts of electric power. 'So for two gigawatts, we're talking about 400 Bell centres,' he said.
Hypertec, which is privately held by the Ahdoot family, was established in 1984 primarily as a maker of personal computers. The company evolved over time and expanded into building servers, computing systems, and infrastructure for data centres. It currently has around 700 employees and has built centres in Canada and around the world. The European expansion is the company's largest foray overseas. 'In terms of setting up a presence and developing a data center, this is very new,' he said.
Canada takes centre stage as VivaTech trade show opens in Paris
Mr. Ahdoot said Hypertec has streamlined its construction and design processes and can build a data centre within six to nine months, less than half the time it normally takes.
Evan Solomon, Canada's minister of AI and digital technology, welcomed the company's announcement. 'This is a testament to Canadian innovation,' Mr. Solomon said Thursday at VivaTech. He added that the expansion highlighted 'the international reach of Canadian enterprises and their ability to capitalize transformative investments to power the economy of the future.'
Mr. Solomon was asked about the optics of a Canadian company investing so heavily in Europe instead of Canada. The federal government has created a $2-billion fund to encourage AI infrastructure development in Canada. So far only one announcement has been made: a $240-million commitment to Toronto-based Cohere Inc. to help fund its computer processing needs. Cohere will use the money to purchase capacity at a data centre opening later this year in Canada that will be operated by CoreWeave Inc., a U.S. company.
By contrast France and other European countries have made a major push into AI infrastructure. During a visit to VivaTech this week, French President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted to 'build a computing power capacity installed in Europe with European solutions.'
The French government has also announced €109-billion ($171-billion) worth of investments in AI infrastructure and a €20-billion project involving Canadian-controlled Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. 'Europe's GPU capacity will have tripled between 2024 and 2025 and increased tenfold between 2024 and 2026,' Mr. Macron said Wednesday.
Mr. Solomon highlighted Hypertec's Canadian roots and said the company will be investing more in its home country. 'They're investing in Canada and there will be more investment in Canada,' he said. He added that 'Canadian companies that are strong around the world is an example of success. We don't want to inhibit that.'
Mr. Ahdoot was more circumspect about opportunities in Canada and he said AI infrastructure has been lagging.
'I think part of the question is, in Canada who do you talk to?,' he said. Decision-making tends to be more centralized than in the United States and other jurisdictions. While there are Canadian projects in the planning stages, Mr. Ahdoot said he expected it will take a couple of years before there will be major announcements. 'Until we have the direction at the government level, it's hard to move forward on strategic projects.'
Part of the challenge is sourcing the enormous power required for large data centres. The U.S. has a multitude of utilities that are willing and able to provide the power, but Mr. Ahdoot said Canadian utilities have not been as quick to pivot. However, he said that having a federal cabinet minister dedicated to AI should be helpful in spurring development.
'We're going to talk to Evan, and we're going to let him know. Look, we want to play together. We want to work together,' he said